DeSu: Another Story, Another War
by Xervesblack
Summary: In Megiddo City a popular new game is about to be released, much to the anticipation of the city residents. The catch is the new game is actually a program designed to summon and tame demons. Now two friends have seven days to learn why the program was released to the public and to decide the world's fate. Rated M for blood/gore, language, and possibly Mara. General SMT stuff.
1. 10:27 AM

This is an original story that is set in a universe unconnected to others from the MegaTen series that combines elements from both the_ Devil Survivor_ series and the _Shin Megami Tensei_ series. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the _Devil Survivor_ series or the _Shin Megami Tensei_ series. That would be ATLUS and you should give them your money, 'cause I know I have. There are also several real world products that are used and referenced in this piece of work that I also do not own, but try to reference their respective creators in this work.

* * *

><p>Colt tapped his foot in a very irritated manner as he looked down at his cell phone again, <em>10:27<em>. He let out a sigh, "Late again." Though he had fully expected Damian to be late, so this turn of events wasn't a surprise; it was annoying though. Colt was really glad that he had told Damian to meet him earlier or else they might have missed the release of beta for the new game _Devil Busters. Devil Busters_ was releasing in a little over a half an hour exclusively in Megiddo City before the rest of the world which wouldn't get it for another week.

He gave a light shake of his head and looked up to see the impossible to miss figure of Damian Black, or just Black as he liked to be called, across the street heading towards him. Black had on his overly dramatic black, long coat that fit well with his equally overdramatic bleached white hair that reached a few inches past his shoulder. Again, impossible to miss in a crowd.

"Yo, Black," Colt shouted waving him in his direction, "over here!"

"Yeah I see you," Black shouted back. He rushed across the street before the traffic light turned green again.

"I wasn't sure," Colt said smirking, "I'm not as noticeable as you are. You know, dressing like an anime character and all." He pointed to the other people in the plaza who were all giving him strange looks of curiosity about his outfit, hairstyle, and coloring.

Black shrugged his shoulders casually and gestured at the people and the looks they were giving him, "Eh, like I've ever cared." That was true enough Colt thought to himself. Colt had known Black since middle school and he had always given little thought as to how others thought of him, and over the years he gave even less thought about it. Naturally this reached its height when he bleached his hair white during his first year in college. To say his parents were surprised when they first saw it over Thanksgiving break would be an understatement.

Then again Colt didn't exactly care what others thought of him, but he liked to think that he dressed with style. He himself wore dress shirts and pants to look regal, but he didn't go overboard with a tie and jacket. Either way he shrugged back at Black instead of fighting with him over how he dressed, again.

"Whatever. Do you want to get something to eat at the PJ's across the street while we wait another," Colt paused to look down at his watch, "oh another thirty minutes or so for the game to go live?"

Black looked down at his stomach and then back up at Colt with a longing in his eyes, "Yes, so much yes."

"Geez, then let's go order something."

Twenty minutes later the duo were sitting at a table outside the restaurant with some drinks and a fresh out of the oven medium cheese pizza that the two shared. Colt also had a side of nachos that he was currently eating because Black was hogging most of the pizza.

"So did you predownload _Devil Buste_rs yet?"

Black responded by giving him a look that asked how just dumb he thought that he was, "Duh. I've got it ready for the launch on my tablet, laptop, and of course my 3DS here." The last one he held up to show his friend. His 3DS also had a pair of clip on headphones plugged in that Black constantly used to listen to music. "What about you, man?"

"It's already downloaded it on my laptop and my cellphone," Colt responded.

"Then we've got eight minutes to kill until the game is launched."

"Yeah."

"Want to watch one of the trailers again while we finish eating? I've already got them loaded on my laptop. I'm so hyped right now!"

"Sounds good to me," Colt said dipping another nacho into his cheese. Black reached down and pulled his laptop out onto the table. He quickly typed in his password and turned the computer around to reveal that he did indeed have the game's various trailers all ready to play. "Let's get going." Black nodded back at him and pressed the play button.

Instantly text appeared across the screen that read, "You are a hero in a medieval fantasy world that was overrun by demons," before fading away to monsters of all kinds emerging from a fire and brimstone portal typical for these sorts of games. "You and the other heroes must defeat and tame the legions of demons in order to save the world." The video changed to show a montage of the various monsters that would be in the game with the text advertising that there were several hundreds of demons the train; each with their own set of attacks, abilities, and strengths/weakness.

The focus of the video shifted from monsters to two human characters, one male and one female, advertising them as the players' avatars. The male model was large and muscular in a way that a human could only be built in some work of fiction. The female character was similarly designed to appear as only a character in a game could look, but unlike the man the only thing large about her was her bust and her hips which formed quite an hourglass figure with her tiny waist. Obviously both were designed with fanservice in mind.

"Use your hero's intense strength to fight back using weapons of steel or perhaps your own fists," the text read as it faded into the screen. The male avatar was slowly covered in armor as the camera panned over the avatar's muscular form. Colt glanced up at Black who was chuckling at the fanservice that was so obvious that it seemed like they were poking fun at it. Meanwhile, on the computer screen, the hero was punching through legions of the demons that were running towards him. Some of the demons had holes literally punched through them by the warrior's steel covered knuckles, but others weren't so lucky and had actually exploded from the force of the punches, something that filled Colt with happiness each time he watched it.

The video then focused on the female hero and the words, "Or instead you could channel the magical energies of the planet to unleash fierce elemental attacks against your foes," appeared over her head. Again the camera panned over the avatar as they changed into a different outfit, this time a chainmail bikini with an open wizard cloak on top. Colt had to admit he didn't mind this instance of fanservice. Immediately after the transformation was complete the trailer had the female avatar go into action against the demons. She used magic to set them on fire, beat them with the forces of wind, storm the area with lightning, and rain ice shards down at the demons.

"Or you could build your character to destroy everyone in your way equally with physical force and magical energies," the trailer announced as two more avatars of both genders, both more realistically built than the previous avatars. When they went into battle they used physical force to slice through enemies then quickly switched to throwing the forces of various elements at the monsters. These two avatars made sure to watch out for and to cover each other in battle which the trailer used as a segue.

"And using patented software _Devil Busters_ will allow all players to transfer their save data and to connect with friends across various platforms including; smartphones, tablets, laptops, PlayStation Vitas, and Nintendo 3DSs." The video then displayed a group of friends all participating in a single battle against one boss on four separate devices. "Connect with your friends free* at noon June 28th worldwide or participate in the Megiddo City exclusive beta beginning eleven AM on June 21st. *In app purchases are included."

"You know," Black said looking up from the laptop, "the first trailer in retrospect kind of sucked. It's memorable, but too much of a joke."

"I can't argue with that," Colt admitted, "but the interviews they gave later were much better about advertising it."

"Yeah, Colt, if you didn't link me those I probably wouldn't even be so hyped about _Devil Busters_," joked Black as he finished his pizza and drink in a single gulp. Colt was on his last nacho too which he dipped into the last bit of melted cheese left. He pulled out his phone as he took a bite of the chip and with a crunch he noticed that the cheese was cold as he turned the phone on. The _Devil Busters_ app had a tiny timer below it that was counting down to less than 50 seconds.

"I really can't wait this last minute," Black said as he watched the countdown on his crimson 3DS. Colt could tell he wasn't kidding based on the way he could see his knee, sticking out from underneath the table, shaking in anticipation. "A mon game with demons and even a mythological god or two, is going to kick so much ass."

"Commanding Zeus or Odin will be fun and imagine how powerful they'll be compared to the normal demons."

"Well we'll find out in five," Black began to countdown

"Four," Colt continued.

"Three, Two, One!" they counted. The game's icon lit up signaling that it was now live and ready for everyone in Megiddo City to play.


	2. 11:00 AM

**11:00 AM**

As both Black and Colt opened up the app the screen changed to one that was a simple, darker shade of blue with the title _Devil Busters_ and nothing else for a moment. Black was about ask whether the app was experiencing a severe day one bug when several ones and zeroes replaced the previous screen before it started to swirl around the handheld's screen.

"Did you catch what that binary was about?" Blacked asked turning towards Colt.

"Not a clue," he answered. "The code went all helix on me before I couldn't get a good look at it. Why did you see something?"

"Nope."

"Hello," came a soft, feminine voice from the 3DS and Colt's phone, "the world is about to suffer from a cataclysmic change. Your only chance of surviving the onslaught and influencing the new order of the world lies in the demonic forces that dwell in the realm of the Expanse. You must harness their numbers and you yourself must grow in power so that you pave the path humanity will follow. Will you accept the responsibility of such a task?" the voice asked with two boxes for yes and no.

"That was a hardcore opening," Black said surprised. Nothing in any of the trailers or interviews hinted at an opening as serious as this. Hell, besides the premise the game seemed like a lighthearted adventure. This wasn't a bad thing though, as Black liked the atmosphere that it established right from the get-go.

"And the answer is, of course, a yes."

"Of course," he echoed. They both confirmed the yes option.

A bright, red light flashed from both of their screens, forcing Black to shut his eyes, and then the voice came again from the phone, "Starting contract process. Participants found." Black opened his eyes to find a tiny, hand sized in fact, woman with lengthy red hair, two pairs of insect wings, and a deep blue leotard floating in front of him.

Turning his head towards Colt he saw that he had some sort of tan-brown werewolf in a gold breastplate and wielding a metal club in front of him. With a low growl the wolf said towards Colt, "So you are the human that wishes to form a contract with me?"

"And you're the human that would like to form a contract with me?" said the tiny flying woman. He looked over to Colt who had a look of confusion in his eyes, but looks of excitement and enjoyment were mixed in as well showing that he was enjoying the situation too. Black, despite his confusion of these… these things' sudden appearance, found himself excited at the idea of werewolves and fairies being real. It was like his childhood fantasies were coming real. Next thing he knew he would be shooting lightning from his hands just like his childhood hero, Darth Sidious. Still these things did not look pleasant with the werewolf growling and holding its claws towards his friend, while the one in front of him was holding out her arms and smiling in a way that showed she was eager to fight.

"But if you want to be my master," the fairy said winking while holding her finger up to her lip, "you'll need to show me your power. If I win though I get to do whatever I want; total freedom." She threw her arms out towards Black and a bolt of lightning came down from above and struck him. His body started to spasm violently as the lightning coursed through his body and the smell of burnt skin entered his nose. This is not how he imagined he would meet his end; being struck by lightning summoned by a fairy no larger than his hand.

Then it was over and he was still standing on his feet. He should have been collapsed on the ground suffering from intense burns, if not dead, but here he was totally fine and still standing on his wobbly but otherwise strong legs.

"What?" the fairy said.

"What?" Black repeated evidently just as confused as the fairy was.

"You should be dead," she screamed obviously disappointed that her prey hadn't died as easily as she had hoped.

"Don't look at me," he responded throwing his hands up in the air seeking not to hit with lightning again, "I agree." He again looked over to his friend and his opponent to see they were in the same state of confusion. The wolf was staring at its claws and Colt was patting down his chest searching for severe injuries that just were not there. He should have had his stomach torn out of his very body, but instead his shirt wasn't torn. Actually now that he thought about it Black's coat wasn't singed either.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._ Black looked around for the source of the sound then realized that it was coming from his 3DS inside his coat pocket. It was closed though and should be in sleep mode, so it would not have been making any noise. Actually, he had his headphones in so if it were to make a noise it should have come from them and not the system's speakers. Bizarre though given his current situation, getting shot with lightning by a tiny woman in a leotard, it was the least bizarre thing that has happened to him today.

He pulled out the Nintendo 3DS while the fairy looked on apparently just as curious as he was. When he opened it up the words "Devil Summoning Program Activated" was on the top of the screen and on the bottom was some sort of battle readout. Along with a tactical map that gave everyone's positions it had an HP and SP, whatever that was, bar located by four pictures and was labeled which the names; Black, Colt, Kobold, and Pixie. So that was the names of the creatures they were fighting.

"Seems this is some sort of 'Devil Summoning Program.' Go fig," Black said to the Pixie.

"Well duh," she said with an annoyed look on her face, "but how did you survive my attack." Black looked down and scanned the tutorial that was quickly spreading across the bottom screen for an answer to the Pixie's question.

"Uh, it says something about an 'Equalizer Ability Program' that makes a human equal to the power of a low level demon," he said summarizing the information he was reading from the tutorial.

"Low level demon!" screamed Pixie while she threw down her arms in a rage and made a pouty face, obviously insulted by what the program was implying.

"So if I win you said I become your master."

"Yes! Geez, are you new at all this?"

"Duh," Damian echoed.

"Ugh, why are you summoning demons if you don't know anything about the process? You newbies are so annoying," she groaned. Black quickly glanced over at Colt and the Kobold who were already fighting again. He saw the Kobold swinging its arm towards Colt's head, but Colt ducked and got in close enough to land an exceptionally strong looking uppercut into the demon's jaw. He seemed to be doing fine on his own and Black would probably have to fight the Pixie soon, so he wouldn't be able to try and assist his friend. It was small and would be hard to hit with only his fist, but on the other hand the Pixie looked frail so hopefully she would be easy to beat.

"What happens if you beat me though?" Black asked.

The fairy rolled its eyes but started to explain.

"Then I'll be free to do whatever I want to in the hum-" Pixie didn't get to finish her explanation because Black used the distraction to punch her. She fell backwards sailing through the air clutching her front from the attack. She landed roughly down on the asphalt of the street, "Ow, that was cheating!"

"I don't shoot lightning from my hands," Black countered while he followed up with a swift ax kick that squashed her down against the pavement. He tried to follow up with a sweeping kick but the Pixie pushed itself off the ground and managed to use her wings to get high enough above his leg.

She flew towards Black and punched him across his face. Black was right about her being physically weak because her punch felt like a five-year old's. Still harder than he thought she would be able to do, but at least the Pixie wasn't using lightning again.

She started to circle her flight around and came back aiming for him, but Black threw up his arms in front of his head to guard against her punch. When she hit his arms she was taken by surprise, having expected to land a smooth hit and then fly past him like the last time, resulting in her crashing and floating in a daze from the unexpected resistance. As she continued to hover in a sort of daze Black took the opportunity to strike with a jab that audibly knocked the air out of her.

When he was about to continue his assault the Pixie held her hands up and screamed, "Wait!" Black stopped and stood there waiting to see what the demon wanted, but still had his guard up in case it was a trick. "I- I surrender," she said disappointed and defeated, "What is your name?"

"Damian Black, but just call me Black."

"I'll accept the contract. You… are my master, Master Black," she finished as the dematerialized in a red flash.

"What?" Black said again to no one in specific. Then suddenly he remembered something extremely important, Colt was still fighting the Kobold. He snapped his head to see that his friend was on the ground with the Kobold trying to tear out his throat with its teeth but Colt sometime during his fight had stolen the beast's club and was holding it against the wolf's throat so that it could not reach him. Black started to go to help him, but he already had kicked the Kobold off of him and swung the club at him before the demon could react. The demon wobbly stood up and tried to duck Colt's next swing but the swing was too quick as was the next and next and the next. Finally he delivered a blow to the head that knocked the wolfman off of his feet.

"You have bested me," the Kobold said growling at itself. "I," it began, but Black couldn't understand what was said because the Kobold was too quiet to hear from where he was standing.

Whatever he said Colt could hear it and nodded while saying, "Colson Wolf, but please call me Colt." The Kobold nodded and growled something again, probably accepting the contract, then dematerialized in the same red flash as Pixie did.

"Are we done?" Black called out.

"It looks like we won," he said smiling although he was panting heavily. Then again Black noticed that he was panting a lot himself. Getting lightning shot at you would probably do that to a person though.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. _Black reached down for his 3DS while Colt unlocked his phone. The Demon Summoning Program was already open and a voice came out of both of their devices, "Contract confirmed. Playing message for devil summoner, Black." On Colt's phone he heard the same message but using his name instead.

"Greetings and congratulations on forming your first contract," said a deep male voice that he was sure that he had heard somewhere before. Suddenly it clicked and he turned to look Colt who, judging by the look on his face, realized who it was too; Troy Steven Nakajima. They had both heard Nakajima's voice before several times during interviews about the game, and there was no doubt that this was indeed the game's creator. Cleary he had planned for this to happen or else he wouldn't have used the term "contract." Now the question was if he had planned this what was his plan?

"You are about to find yourself in a new world where everything that you know will literally be changed forever. This is not an exaggeration on my part I promise you. The next few days will be exceptionally brutal and merciless and you'll need the powers of demons to survive. I am truly sorry about what will happen next, but I promise you that I am doing this for all of humanity. I cannot explain what I mean when I say that at this time but I need to ask a favor of you, new Devil Summoner. Please use the power you are about to obtain to lead humanity on the path that is best for it."

With that Nakajima's message was over and the screen switched to show a party screen like that from an RPG, but when Black remembered that the game was meant to be an RPG though that wasn't much of a surprise. His party consisted of himself and his newly contracted Pixie with a blank space beside him for a third party member. A three party team seemed a bit odd outside of a Bioware game to Black. On the bottom of the screen was a small, rectangular button with the words "Party Link" written on it. He turned to look at Colt to see what he what he thought the feature was, but Colt was looking past him with a look of terror on his face. No looking longer he noticed that it wasn't just fear but there was a look of loss and sorrow was also prevalent amongst the mixture of emotions he was displaying. His eyes were wide open, his body was shaking, his mouth was hanging just slightly open, sweat was dripping down his forehead, and his hands were tight in the forms of fist. Black was unnerved by the very unusual display that he had almost never seen from his friend before.

He turned to see what would draw out such a reaction from Colt and was witness to a dozen mangled and bloody bodies lying everywhere across the street. At the restaurant there were a man and a woman's body, a couple he believed, that were murdered by other kobolds and were currently being devoured by the same murders that had their snout deep in the corpses' stomachs. Not too far away in the street were the crisp remains of a child that had unfortunately been burnt by a pixie's electric magic. It was a sickening sight, but Black couldn't dwell on that at the moment.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," he said turning away from the carnage.

"No," Colt firmly said, standing his grounds. "We need to help these people," he said as he gestured to the other people that hadn't activated the app and were standing around with an equal mix of horror and confusion on their faces.

"Why?" Black asked glancing back towards his friend.

"Why? Because we can't just let them die damnit!" He let out a sigh, irritated at his friend's desire to risk his life for people that neither of them should care about, though it would be a good chance for them to test their new demons.

"Fine, but only for the XP."

"We get XP from fighting?" he said confused.

"According to this bar right here," he said pointing to a purple bar on his screen located on top of his name. Actually according to this he had leveled up to level 2 and needed to spend a skill point. Looking over his options he saw ST, MA, VI, and AG, and hazarding a guess they probably meant strength, magic, virility, and agility. That's what he figured anyway based off the other RPGs that he played.

"What are you putting your stat into?" Black asked mulling over the choices.

"Strength," answered Colt without hesitating, "it worked out pretty well in my last fight, so why mess with success. You?"

"I think that I'll go with magic. I can't resist the chance to use actual magic."

"Dude, look at this," Colt leaned over and pointed at a button that read 'skills.' They click the button on both of their devices which brought up a list that was mostly '?'s, but each of them had one skill that wasn't hidden.

"Agi," Black read out loud.

"Anger hit," Colt said.

"Any idea what an agi is?"

"No, but let's equip them and find out." Both of them clicked their respective ability and felt a sudden bit brief surge of power through their bodies.

"Woah," they both said then Colt turned to Black, "Are we ready for battle?"

"First let's link parties," they both clicked the button that Black had noticed earlier. "Now we're ready."

"Battle program, starting up," their devices read. "This is your first time using the battle program according to our records; would you like to hear the tutorial?"

"Yes," both said in unison as they tapped the yes button. A map of the immediate area around them formed on the screen comprised of several squares. All the demons were marked in the squares in teams of three or less just like their parties. "Each party has a leader who when defeated will cause the rest of the party to be defeated also. In order to make up for being the main target the leader gains a defense bonus as long as the other party members are still undefeated."

"Let's get moving then," Colt said. He pointed past Black, "You go that way and we'll circle around and meet each other on the other end. That way we'll take out the two teams on the far side and not have to worry about them being back up for the one other team."

"Sounds good to me. Let's get out our new partners then." They both pulled out their respective system and called out their contracted demons. There was one more thing that Black needed to be ready. He switched to the music function and quickly browsed through his songs until he found one that he thought would be appropriate for the situation; "Rise" from _Ghost in the Shell_.

"Follow me," Black said gesturing to Luna as the battle started.

Black and Luna moved around to the east with Black's back against the wall while the pixie floated along next to him trying to not attract the attention of the nearby group of demons. He move as silently as he could as be rounded the corner and started to move along the front of a convenience store. He noticed that the store's window was broken and wondered if a demon had moved into the store. Not wanting to be surprised by a demon Black opened up his 3DS to check the map, but to his surprise the store wasn't included in his map. He started to tense up and glanced at the group of demons not too far ahead of him. Luckily they seemed to be too preoccupied with the corpse, so he turned his attention back to the window. He held up his hand to tell Luna to wait the carefully poked his head around to glance in the window.

Inside he saw a group of people all trying to hide behind the merchandise racks hoping that demons wouldn't spot them. Black mentally breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for his pixie to keep moving. A little girl, probably eight years old he guessed, saw Luna float over to black and raised her hand to point at her, while her eyes grew wide in fear, she bit her lip, and looked as if she would cry any second. Black quickly brought his forefinger up to his lips to silently shush the girl and winked to show that he was fine.

He continued on and when he reached the end of the line of building as shown on the map the duo started to move horizontally until they saw Colt and his kobold a few feat next to them. They nodded at each other and moved down where each would attack one of the two groups next to each other. Black's targeted group was made up completely of kobolds.

"Remember we're targeting the leader last," Black said to Luna.

"I know, I know. Can I start attacking those disgusting kobolds now?"

"Fuck them up."

Black ran towards the kobold to the left who didn't notice that it was being attacked until it felt a foot slam into its spinal column. The other two kobolds turned towards Black to see what had assaulted their comrade, but the wolfman furthest from Black was stuck a bolt of lightning from Luna. The lead kobold turned towards Black's demon and lunged while laughing at her.

"You've been contracted? Ha-ha you must be weak to lose to a human," the kobold laughed while stretching its claw out towards the pixie. Luna was not very excited about the kobold's comment and answered him with another lightning bolt.

The kobold that Black had knocked down was starting to stir and he needed to act quickly before it got back up. He remembered the skill that he had equipped before the fight. This seemed like as good a time as any to try it.

"Agi," Black called out and the chest of the kobold he was facing spontaneously combusted in a small ball of flames. The kobold let out a howl as it sprawled backwards clutching its fur covered chest.

"Keeping attacking," Luna shouted as she let loose another bolt of electrical energy at her opponent, "kobolds are weak against fire." Black smiled to himself and held out his hand towards the wounded demon.

"This is going to be fun. Agi!" another ball of fire exploded on top of the demon. Black continued shouting the spell as a flurry of flames raged over the demon's fur. The flames consumed the kobold and it burned away. The power was exhilarating, he loved the way he could feel the magical energy pulse through him every time he summoned the flame, it was blissful.

It was tiring too. The inexperienced devil summoner noticed that he was taking longer and deeper breathes each time he hit the kobold with more fire. Not only that but his head was also pounding making it hard to think. Black had forgotten that the devil summoning system, and by extension the battle system, was designed around an RPG, which meant there must be a system for magic points that he had just burned through. Sparing a glance at his 3DS his suspicions were confirmed when he saw that his SP meter was less than half way filled. Damn, he had gotten caught up in the excitement and lost his head there for a moment. Now he would really have to limit the amount of magic he used the rest of the battle.

Black shouldn't have been paying attention to his 3DS at that moment though, he should have been paying attention to the kobold leader who was already in the process of charging him. The beast man met him by grabbing ahold of the man's head with his large hand and without slowing down slammed the back of his head onto the street.

Luckily for Black the Demon Summoning Program's Equalizer lessened the pain so that his brains were not spilled out onto the streets. Unluckily though his head still felt like it was on fire, his ears were filled with a dull buzzing, and his eyes were blurred and shrouded in a fog. He barely had time to register his current situation before he felt the demon's fist collided with his face and knocked his head against the asphalt a second time. The kobold was about to strike again but Black brought up both his legs and kneed it then followed up by kicking it off with both legs.

The demon was only momentarily stunned by his attack though while Black was still very dizzy as he clumsily made it to his feet. His head was pounding and his vision swirled so much he could barely make out the kobold as it started moving towards him again. His vision was improving dramatically fast, but still not fast enough that he could actually tell where the kobold was standing. If Black tried to attack there was a high chance that he wouldn't come close to even hitting the beast.

The kobold raised its claw and lunged in for another series of attacks. Black raised his arms and braced himself, but the wolfman was stopped in its tracks by a bolt of lightning from Luna.

"Master, are you alright?" Luna asked as she flew over towards him. She must have finished off the kobold then.

"Just needed a moment," he answered. His vision had finally returned to normal, so he could see his opponent and put a fight again. "Thanks for the save."

Black ran up to his foe and hit it with a quick jab to the gut while his pixie flew around and into its head. The kobold turned to snapped at the fairy, seeking to catch her between his teeth, but her master interrupted by slamming his elbow into the beast's advancing throat. While it started to cough violently both Black and Luna went in to deliver the final strike. They both kicked the beast and eradicated the last of its HP as it started to dematerialize.

Black let out a sigh and turned to face his demon, "Well that was fun, but damn is it tiring to fight demons." He was breathing deeply and while he wasn't seriously injured he was covered in cuts and bruises. The Equalizer was a lifesaver, literally.

"Of course it's tiring," Luna said sighing and burying her forehead in her palm, "we aren't built as weak as humans."

"Hey, I didn't think it would be easy or anything," he defended himself, "I just didn't know how much it would take out of me. Especially the magic but cut me a break here, it is new to me."

"Fair enough," the pixie responded with a shrug, "by the way your friend looks like he is almost done his fight." Black looked to see Colt and his kobold teaming up on the last kobold in the group he opposed. The kobold looked beaten and battered from the fight while in contrast, Colt was hopping about with both arms up, his hands curled tight into fists, and ready to strike or guard as needed. His foe swiped a claw at him, but Colt ducked and moved in for the kill. He punched the jaw of the beast from the side so hard that the kobold's head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees from the force behind the attack. That must have been the 'anger hit' skill that Colt had. Even from where he was standing, Black swore he could hear the _crunch_ of the wolfman's neck when it was snapped from the power behind the attack.

Colt started to rotate his right shoulder and massage it with his other hand, then turned to Black to see his friend had finished his fight too. Colt put up two fingers and motioned towards the final group ahead of them, then gave Black a thumbs up. He was asking if Black was ready to attack the next group, and normally he would answer with a thumbs up in return, but this time he only held up his hand. Colt looked at him wondering why he wanted him to wait but shrugged in return and waited.

Black looked at the last group of demons that were composed of another kobold as the leader, a pixie, and a strange orange demon that he hadn't seen before. Looking at his SP bar on his 3DS, he saw he had enough energy for two more agis. Kobolds were weak against his fire magic, so he could target the kobold and hopefully wipe out most of its HP quickly. If he and Luna could take out the leader than the other demons should disappear too, but there was a problem with that plan. The leader got a bonus to their defenses while the other members of its party were still alive, so even with fire at his disposal there was no guarantee they would win. In that case though Colt should be able to easily sweep the leader. That plan should work.

Black looked back at his friend and pointed at the leader, then he pointed at himself and Colt in that order. The other summoner got the message, Black would attack the leader and then he would attack afterwards, and he gave his thumbs up in approval. Black nodded and ran towards their foe.

"Hold on," Luna said as she flew in front her master holding her arms out to stop him.

"What?" Luna didn't answer him instead raising both of her arms out towards him as a green glow materialized around her hands. "What are you doing?" Black questioned wondering what sort of spell she was preparing for him and how she could betray him. Shouldn't the contract that they made have prevented her from attacking him? Caught off guard he didn't have a chance to move before she finished her spell. He held up his arms to guard and to his surprise noticed that the cuts and bruises in his arm were healing rapidly. The cuts were all closing in on themselves and the bruises were no longer an ugly mix of black and purple, but his skin had instead returned to its normal pale color.

"Dia," she said as she finished weaving her spell.

"You're a healer?" Black questioned but caught himself before the pixie could respond, "Of course you're a healer. I really should have known."

The pixie flashed a smile, "Finally catching on?"

"Looks that way. Now let's hurry or Colt will complain about how we kept him waiting."

The enemy group was waiting for them though and when both Black and pixie arrived they were attacked. Immediately the enemy pixie threw a bolt of lightning at Luna who was knocked back from the force of the blast. Luna righted herself in the air instantly and fired her own blot of electricity not at the other pixie but at the kobold in charge of the group.

The other demon was short only reaching up to Black's hip, bright orange, had purple hair that covered the demon's eyes and looked like the top of a mushroom, and had purple swirling suction cups covering on its body. The demon, called an obariyon according to demon summoning program, charged towards him and brought its fat fist in contact with Black's gut. The blow hurt and caused the man to groan in pain, but he twisted and continued past the demon towards his real target.

The kobold pounced towards Black and he raised his arm to cast agi before his enemy could make contact. The demon was faster though and sank its fangs into his arm. Black was protected some thanks to the equalizer to the teeth didn't break too deep into the skin, but he still felt a wave of pain that coursed through his body. He tried to pull his right arm free while he turned his left arm carefully and slowly so as to not draw the demon's attentions.

"Agi," he said. The demon's eyes grew wide and it tried to move but it was already lit ablaze by the spell. The wolfman stumbled backwards and Black repeated the spell again.

"Go!" he shouted to Colt as he leapt backwards while the Kobold was fell to its knees after the second blast. His friend ran forward towards their enemy with his own kobold following behind him. The orange, mushroom haired demon moved to intercept him with a clothesline, but he slid under the demon's arm and knocked the group's leader to the ground when his leg's collided with the already off balanced demon's feet. The kobold started to fall forward and stretched out its arms its arms in an attempt to catch itself, but before its paws could meet the ground its face met the demon tamer's fist with such force the demon was literally sent up a few feet into the air. While the demon was still in the air and gravity was just about to stop the wolf's raise Colt's kobold moved forward and brought his club down on the other kobold's neck with perfect accuracy. The demon released a strange, horrid noise that sounded like a scream mixed with a chain smoker's cough as it hit the ground and cracked the street below.

As he watched the pixie turn to attack her enemies, Black noticed that the buzzing in his head that was accompanied by a strong burning sensation. His breathing became deeper and there was an ever so slight blur in his vision that made it hard to focus on the fight in front of him. He slowly rotated his head and brought his hands up to pinch the bridge of his nose hoping it might soothe the feeling some.

"Sucks to be out of SP," Luna said floating silently beside her master. Black glanced over at her for a moment then turned back towards the battle. Colt took a hit from the pixie but ignored the impact and moved towards the leader again.

"Yeah, it feels awful," he said with a groan.

"Don't worry. After the battle is done your SP should recover almost instantly."

"That's a relief, but only after the battle? Is there no way I can do it, you know, in a fight." The pixie thought for a moment tapping her chin.

"I know some really powerful demons can do it, but I've got no idea how."

"Hm, I suppose I'll have to tame one then," he said with a chuckle as the obariyon moved to intercept the summoner before being clubbed by his kobold.

"Oh, you sound confident you can do that," she said with a coy smile, "and what makes you so sure you can tame a demon like that?"

"I tamed you didn't I?" Black shifted his eyes to the right where he watched the little flying lady as she squirmed nervously when she realized the accusation he was implying. Luckily she wouldn't have to worry about an answer as the fight was being brought to an end.

Colt reached the kobold who had started to attack him, but Colt grabbed his arm much to the wolfman's surprise. With his other arm he jammed his elbow into the demon's chest where Black was sure a few ribs were broken. He pulled his arm back and punched the same spot that he had before. From where he stood Black could see his friend's fist emerging from the back of the demonic beast whose form was beginning to dematerialize. The other two demons wore looks of shock on their faces as they too began to dematerialize now that their leader, their anchor to Earth, was defeated.

"Looks like the fight is over," Luna said. Black nodded in agreement as he could already feel the burning sensation in his head fading away.

"Yep, and I don't think we did that bad for our first fight."

Black Colt

LV: 4 LV: 4

ST: 5 ST: 7

MA: 7 MA: 4

VI: 4 VI: 5

AG: 4 AG: 4


End file.
